


Welcome to Quindecim

by BucketLover



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), Death Parade (Anime)
Genre: Chess, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-03-15 04:18:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13605369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BucketLover/pseuds/BucketLover
Summary: Light and L are being judged at Quindecim while Nona and Ginti give their opinions.





	1. Welcome to Quindecim

**Author's Note:**

> The crossover we all wanted to see. Enjoy!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L and Light arrive at Quindecim

The elevator doors opened, suddenly, revealing a short white haired woman. She smiled at the man in front of her as she walked towards him.

"I'm going to have to ask you to go inside the elevator," she said, her soft voice filling the silent room.

"May I ask, where am I?" said the brown haired man as he stood up revealing his tall frame. 

"You will find out soon," said the woman while walking away from him. The young man did as he was told, and entered the elevator, without knowing that behind him a conversation was undergoing. 

"Why did you take him off my hands, Nona?" asked a red haired man.

"I told you, Ginti, I am really curious about how this will go with Decim. Now that the woman left, the way he treated guests has been different. I want to see how he will work out this difficult case."

Ginti snorted as he turned around to pet his cat. "Whatever. At least I can get some free time."

A few floors below, a ding was heard before 2 elevator doors opened at the same time. From the one on the left stepped out a tall brown haired man. From the other one, a pale, slightly older man with unkempt black hair and a really bad posture emerged. They stopped for a second to gaze into each other's eyes before they walked forward following the unfamiliar corridor.

They ended up in a spacious room filled with different items and right in front of them stood a bar counter from behind which a white haired man with a piercing blue gaze spoke. 

"Right this way, please." His voice was deep but pleasant to the ear. The two did as they were told and kept walking towards him. When they got to the bar stools, both of them sat down and looked at the man in confusion.

"Welcome to Quindecim," the man greeted. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Decim and, tonight, I will be your bartender." 

The brown haired man turned his head to look at the other man and noticed the way he was sitting. He kept his eyes on Decim and he kept a thumb fidgeting around his lips. There was something familiar about that stare but he didn't have time to figure it out, because the white haired man spoke again. 

"You will most likely find this a strange question, but I am afraid I do have to ask it," Decim said in a low voice. "Do you remember anything prior to your arrival here?"

"I do not," whispered the brown haired man, more as a realization. While waiting he thought about not knowing where he was but the fact that he couldn't remember the past few years of his life didn't occur to him. 

Decim looked at the other man who didn't move his gaze while slowly shaking his head. 

"Yes, very good. Thank you for indulging me," he continued.

"I will now explain some things about your situation. This is important. Please pay close attention," said Decim. Finally, thought the younger man. They were about to get an explanation.

"Number 1: I am afraid I cannot provide you with any information regarding your current location," continued the bartender in a loud and clear voice.

"What do you mean?" asked the taller man standing up from his chair. The other man, however, moved for the first time since they got to the counter. He raised his left hand towards him, in a way that told him to stop talking and pay attention. Decim ignored the exchange and kept talking.

"Number 2: Now that you are here, I shall have you play a game."

"A game? Is this some kind of joke?" 

"Number 3: As for the game selection, that will be decided upon by roulette." the young man didn't interrupt this time.

"Number 4: The stakes of the game are very high, your lives, in fact," continued Decim. The pale man widened his eyes at the statement, but didn't say anything. 

"Number 5: Until the game is completed, you cannot leave," he finally finished.

"This guy is crazy," muttered the younger man under his breath. "We should find a way out of here," he said, this time addressing the other man. 

"We can't," he answered, while talking for the first time since he got here. "He just said we cannot leave until we complete the game."

"He could be lying."

"If you wish to chat," intervened Decim, "you may sit at a table. We are in no hurry."

As they were advised, the two men sat at a table, ignoring the drinks placed in front of them. 

"Let's start from the beginning. My name is Light Yagami," said the brown haired man. 

"You can call me L," said the other one. Light couldn't help, but notice the way L sat on the armchair. He was crouching. L seemed to notice his confusion as he answered. 

"My reasoning ability drops by 40% if I sit normally."

Light nodded not understanding in the slightest what he was talking about. 

"Right, so, what should we do about our situation?" he asked. 

"I say we play whatever game he gives us," L answered, while neatly arranging the sugar packets in front of him.

"You seem way too calm about this," said Light. "Are you working with him? He could be a murderer for all I know. And I don't know who you are either. This was a bad idea, I'll try to get out of here on my own."

"I am also taking a risk. I do not know you, either, but I am sitting here having a conversation with you." L answered. "As for me being 'way too calm about this', panicking would cloud my judgement."

Light seemed convinced so he spoke again "So, you say that we should play this game, but we don't know what will happen if we will." 

"That's true, but ask yourself what will happen if we don't play the game," L said in low voice now balancing the sugar packets on his index finger. "This is our only choice. He didn't seem like he was lying when he said there is no way out of here."

"Let's see what he wants from us first," Light said as he stood up, being followed by L.

"May I ask something?" said L.

"Certainly." answered Decim.

"What would happen if we refused to play this game?"

A powerful sound was suddenly heard, followed by the wall behind Decim shifting. A big dark room appeared with what looked to be corpses hanging from the ceiling. 

"I told you, the stakes for this game are your very lives," Decim explained, the wall closing behind him. 

"Now, if I could ask you to press this button please, the roulette will begin." Decim placed on the counter in front of them a big, red button. Behind him, a big board with nine blue tiles with a weird cup-like drawing appeared. 

Light glanced at L who simply kept looking at Decim like trying to figure him out. They both got closer to the counter and Light used his palm to press the button. The tiles on the board started lighting up one after the other. Finally, the light stopped on the tile in the center. It flipped around and a single word was inscribed on it: Chess.

"Very well," said Decim. "Please, follow me."


	2. Chess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L and Light remember their pasts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter. The game of chess was based on "the greatest game of chess of all time" played between Kasparov and Topalov in 1999. Thank my beta for that because otherwise you would have gotten a crappy game making no sense created by me. Anyway, enjoy!!!

_"Very well," said Decim. "Please, follow me."_

Decim started walking away from the bar into the area where they were talking before. In the middle of the room there stood a table with two chairs on either side of it. On the table there stood a red and blue chessboard with blue glass pieces and red glass pieces. Each piece had a weird drawing at the bottom.

L sat down in his usual position, in front of him the blue pieces, while Light sat down near the red pieces.

"The rules are the same as in regular chess. Play until one of you checkmates the opponent's king," Decim explained.

"What will happen after one of us wins?" asked Light.

"I am afraid I cannot answer that question," Decim said.

L picked up his king and looked closely at the drawing. It resembled a heart.

"What is this?" asked L while glancing at the bartender. The man had a weird remote in his hand.

"It is a feature that we might need later," explained Decim. "Please now, begin."

L took the pawn in front of the queen and moved two squares. Light moved the pawn in front of his king one square followed by L moving his, two squares.

They played until Light showed his intention of using his bishop to attack the king. L stopped him and after a few more moves, L sacrificed his own bishop to Light. The younger man picked up the blue piece in his hand and as he moved it aside he felt memories coming back to him.

It was all bits and pieces but he could make out a strange creature in his bedroom, and him writing a name in a notebook. Shortly after, the news reported a criminal who took hostages, that he was found dead.

When he realized where he was, he noticed L's gaze on him. He tried his best to ignore him as he looked at the board and put the blue bishop aside.

L used the queen to take Light's bishop highlighting the other man's mistake.

L held the red bishop in his palm as he felt memories returning to him. He was in a big mansion, somewhere in England, he believed. An older man was addressing him about the murderer known as "Kira". He heard himself saying he will take the case.

So he was a detective, L thought to himself.

The memories didn't faze him, but he glanced over at the bartender. He felt frustrated for not being able to figure out what was going on.

The game continued and L soon found himself castling when another memory hit him. He was talking through a laptop to a room full of Japanese officers. He had sent the man from before, Watari, figured L he was named, to speak on his behalf. He was soon face to face with Light again.

The brown haired man didn't notice his zoning out and kept his eyes on the game. After a few more moves, Light captured one of L's pawns and something cleared again at the back of his mind.

He was watching television and a man was speaking about the criminal nicknamed Kira. Light was feeling furious for some reason. And when the man suddenly clutched his chest in pain, satisfaction built up inside him. The euphoric feeling was broken when on the screen appeared the letter "L".

"Are you alright, Light?" interrupted the other man.

"Yes," said Light as he moved his gaze to the board trying to figure out the rest of the memory.

L continued the game by using his rook to capture Light's pawn. He left the room once again and this time he found himself in a dark place. He watched a man on the laptop in front of him clutch his chest in pain and then picked up a microphone and addressed the criminal he decided to investigate.

Things were finally clearing up for him. He moved his gaze from Light's agitated face to Decim who was still holding the strange remote.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"No," answered L and looked at Light again forcing him to continue the game.

After a few more moves, L has led Light into a trap. He managed to clear the board in such a way that allowed him to use his queen to check Light's king. The sight brought another memory to him. He was seated in a big hall with lots of other people. Besides him, a pale man was sitting in a strange position. The same person who got the highest score in the exams, besides him. They chatted for a little while about the Kira investigation. The man suddenly whispers, the words "I am L" and Light can feel himself becoming uncomfortable.

In front of him, his opponent looks at him and Light can tell that he also remembered that particular memory. Light started chewing on his thumb in agitation, trying to figure out what is going on.

More memories came flooding to him after he captured one of L's knights. How he managed to kill the FBI agents and the bus hijacking that he planned.

It all came back to him and Light realized this might be more than just a game of chess. He looked back at L who didn't seem to have moved his glance at all. He took a deep breath and looked at the board deciding to not fall in whatever trap the detective has planned for him.

The game continued as L took the knight that was used to capture his own. In his mind, an image appeared of a girl being held in a small room being restrained from every angle. He remembered Misa, and everything that followed her imprisonment.

Light kept staring at the board thinking, and more and more memories appeared. Beads of sweat were following the lines of his cheek as they fell to the floor. Light stood a few minutes without doing or anything.

"What is this place?" L broke the silence as he spoke to Decim. Light's head shot up at the question. Didn't L know what this place was? Wasn't this a trap to make him confess his crimes?

"I am afraid I cannot answer that question," Decim said.

"We are dead, aren't we?" asked L. As more memories returned, he thought of the words he spoke but didn't know when. He now remembers looking at Light's face while whispering "So, I was right, after all." What happened after, he didn't know. But he could guess.

"Yes, that is correct," answered Decim.

Light stood up and walked towards him.

"What?!" he shouted. As soon as he spoke that word every part of his memory filled and the last thing he could remember was Ryuk's words. "We did get rid of each other's boredom for a long time. It's been interesting."

Light sat down again and held his head in his hands trying to get rid of the thoughts of him being dead.

L stood up, his bare feet walking on the cold floor towards Light.

"You lost," he said to him. Light looked up at the detective and laughed.

"You didn't defeat me," Light said between chuckles. "You knew all along, but I was always one step ahead of you. I even managed to kill you. You didn't win."

"That's true," said L in a calm voice. "I didn't win, but I didn't lose either. The moment I took this case I was prepared to die. And if I were to die, someone else would take over for me."

"I believe it is Near that managed to defeat you, am I wrong?" L continued.

Light didn't answer but his shoulders were shaking in anger. He stood up suddenly hitting the chess board and throwing game pieces everywhere.

"Defeat me?!" Light shouted. "I can't be defeated! I am a God!" Light ran towards L and prepared to jump on him. His movement stopped when he was a few inches away from L. A look of confusion appeared on his face before he noticed all of the shining strings restraining him. He glanced at Decim who didn't say anything.

"You are no God. The only thing you are, is a murderer." After his statement, L glanced at the overturned board on the floor, then turned around and spoke to Decim.

"What will happen now?"

"The game of chess was a way for me to decide whether you will have your soul reincarnated or thrown into the void. I also have the memories of your past life to help me decide."

"I see," L answered while appearing lost in thought.

"You two, however, are a special case," Decim continued. "It is unheard of two people who died 5 years apart to be judged together. The circumstances of both your deaths are also questionable."

"Five years? I remember waking up here a few hours ago," L told Decim.

"I do not know the full details, but it appears you have been put to sleep after your death."

Decim didn't say anything else and L didn't ask anymore questions. The bartender let Light free, after he calmed down and he had no choice but to accept what was happening around him.

"Please, follow me," Decim said to the two men.

They walked through the same corridors they came from and ended up in front of the two elevators. Above each one of them there was a mask. One of them was white and portrayed a content face, while the other had the shape of the devil's face.

Both of the doors opened at the same time and Decim led Light into the one with the devil mask, while L entered the other elevator.

"Thank you for playing. I wish you the best of luck on your journey."

The doors closed and darkness followed after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and tell me what you think! The next chapter will feature the game from the perspective of Nona and Ginti :D


	3. The Four Rules of Arbiters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new arbiter rule is created.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took waaaaay too long to finish. Whatever, enjoy!!!

_Ginti snorted as he turned around to pet his cat. "Whatever. At least I can get some free time."_  

"Actually, I was thinking we could go watch," Nona proposed while leaving for the elevators. 

Ginti let out a sigh and followed her. When they reached the 15th floor they walked through the corridors together until they caught sight of Decim. He was serving some drinks to the ones that were about to be judged. Ginti rolled his eyes, not understanding the point of being nice to them. Decim looked up at them and gave a greeting nod before walking up to the bar counter.  They walked silently until they reached the place where Decim kept his dummies.

Nona pushed a button and the wall shifted revealing the creepy dolls hanging from the ceiling. Another thing that Ginti didn't understand about the guy. Why Decim felt the need to keep remnants of the criminals thrown into the void was beyond him. 

He and Nona were standing near a window from which they had a clear look to the game that was about to be played. 

"Why did I agree to this?" asked Ginti irritated. "This is going to be boring."

The men stood up from the table and walked towards the bar counter and after a brief conversation with Decim, the wall opened and they barely had time to get out of their sight before the puppets were in plain view. One thing he liked about Decim was that he had interesting persuasion methods. The wall closed after and shortly, one of them pressed the button. 

"Don't be so whiny," replied Nona with a smirk. "This will be interesting."

From his position he couldn't see which game was chosen but he watched as Decim's strings placed a table and a chair with blue and red figurines on top. He realized it was chess. Nothing too entertaining.

He followed the movement of the two strangers and Decim. He noticed the remote in his hand almost immediately and wondered how it will affect the game. It wasn't always the same. Ginti watched as Decim politely explained and answered the questions. Ginti didn't understand how Decim had the patience of dealing with them. 

Afterwards, they started playing the game. For a while nothing happened, but when the brown haired man changed his posture, Ginti could tell that a memory returned to him. He glanced at Decim who still held the remote in his hand, not moving to press any button on it. 

"What is he doing?" Ginti asked.

"What do you mean?" inquired Nona not moving his gaze from the white haired man. Ginti rolled his eyes. 

"You know what I am talking about," he said. "Why isn't he using the remote? The game has gone for long enough."

"I told you that the woman had some sort of impact of him," she said. "He changed somehow. I can't really tell why or what he changed but it's different. I wanted him to have this case so I could find out what is going on with him."

Ginti glanced at Nona who had a thoughtful look on her face. Like she was trying to guess what would happen. 

"If you don't like what you find, will you remove him?" Ginti asked not knowing why he did. He really shouldn't care about Decim. Ginti had his own floor. And he didn't like when others looked into his own business. Why did he do just that?

"I don't know what I will do. Or better said, what  _he_ will do," she said and Ginti could tell that the conversation was finished. It didn't interest him, anyway. 

The game continued as more and more memories appeared and Decim refused to complicate the game. 

"I am curious to see his reasoning," Nona said, out of the blue. "Why he didn't complicate the game." 

"I stopped trying to figure him out a while ago," replied Ginti moving his attention to Nona.

"I just don't understand what that woman could have possibly done to him," Nona said. 

"I don't think she did anything to him," Ginti said. "She was strange and I do think she is the reason for the change, but Decim was always a weirdo. Maybe she just sparked something in him." 

Nona opened her mouth to answer but a loud shout interrupted her. 

"What?!" said the brown haired man after standing up. Ginti realized that they knew about their deaths now. Decim only watched in silence as the two men started talking again, any friendliness from before, gone. 

The brown haired man which Ginti guessed was the bad guy jumped to attack the other one, but was quickly stopped by Decim's strings. Him and the pale man exchanged a few words before he released the other guy and the three of them began walking towards the elevators. 

"Come on," Nona said to him and they exited the backroom. As Decim was returning, Ginti and Nona said down on the bar stools. Decim walked behind the counter and spoke. 

"How can I be of your service?" he asked. 

"Just get me a beer," he said and Decim nodded. He glanced at Nona awaiting her answer. 

"A coffee would be nice," she replied and Decim got to work. A few minutes later, Decim placed in front of them their orders. He then took a glass for himself, poured a drink and sat down in front of them. 

"What brings you here?" he finally asked. 

"We just wanted to see how you would handle the case," Nona said and Ginti glanced at her. 

"You keep saying that this was a difficult case, but everything seemed to go smoothly to me."

"Well, yes, but those two were interesting. After that black haired one came here, five years ago, I was ordered to put him to sleep for some reason. And the other guy... remember that in the last few years we had a raise in the number of criminals we had?" Nona asked and Ginti nodded. 

"Well he was the one responsible for all those deaths," Ginti furrowed his brows in confusion. "The two of them had the same circumstances about their deaths so they were judged together." 

Ginti still didn't understand all of it but it was enough to tell that this case was not like any other. He turned to Decim asking the question that he wanted to ask all evening. 

"Why didn't you complicate the game?" Ginti asked. Decim put down his drink silently.

"Over the course of my relatively short career as an Arbiter here, I have learned that the complication of the game does more harm than good. It brings out the worst in people, taunting them to do things that they wouldn't normally do," he replied. "Someone taught me not to look at everyone the same way. When judging I found it best to look at every little aspect surrounding an action made by the one I'm judging so I can compare the intentions and the outcome."

Ginti gaped at him, not expecting that answer.

"So that woman told you not to use it and you just blindly followed what she said? What does she know anyway?" he asked. 

"Of course not," Decim replied. "I also took my own thoughts and feelings into consideration."

"Your feelings?" Ginti asked and snorted. "Now, I've seen it all. I'm leaving. You coming, Nona?"

Nona who stayed silent throughout the exchange nodded and stood up to follow him. 

"So what did you think?" Ginti asked her. "He spoke about feelings."

"Yes, I know. I was the one who implemented feelings in him, Ginti," she replied. 

"You did? Why?" Ginti asked confused. 

"Oculus' orders. Speaking of which, I have to tell him of the results. We'll talk later," she said as she stepped in a different elevator leaving Ginti to return to his own floor. 

They did not talk later, as promised, but the next day a notice came from the Information Bureau telling them of a new rule that Arbiters have to respect. 

_1\. Arbiters cannot quit making judgments, for that is the reason why they exist._

_2\. Arbiters cannot experience death, for that would bring them too close to being human._

_3\. Arbiters cannot feel emotion, for they are dummies._

_4\. Arbiters may not work hand in hand with life, for that will ruin them._

As Ginti read over it, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen to Decim after he broke two of the four rules of arbiters. His partner from the 15th floor, however, slipped away from his thoughts as he suddenly felt memories appear at the back of his mind. He sighed. It was time to get the job done. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This last chapter I am quite proud of. The Chess one, I feel it kinda lacks something but I can't really tell what. Anyway, thanks to everyone who read, left kudos or reviews. I hope you enjoyed this short story! Thanks for reading! :D

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and tell me what you think!


End file.
